Thursday, June 29, 2006

I am 42 years old and I do not believe I have ever owned brand new off the showroom floor furniture. We have purchased brand new appliances, new computers/computer desks and new mattress sets but never had new furniture. In fact all of the furniture in my home is a hand me down, free or purchased used. We have planned on buying furniture several times but I don't think my husband and I have been able to agree on anything that we really liked when we had the money to buy. Yesterday however that did not happen, we agreed.

We finally had our insurance money released on Tuesday which means the money is now burning a hole in Fred's pocket and he has to spend some of it. I sent him to Home Depot to look around for a ceiling fan for the living room and tile for the Florida room. He comes back hours later with furniture brochures. He and Elizabeth went to Haverty's and just looked around. I am still not feeling all that great and we agreed we would go looking together for furniture on Monday. I have my 2 week post-op appointment and I am hoping she will give me the all clear to at least drive and take my Spanish class. My incision still hurts and I am still napping regularly so she may not we will see. Anyway after lunch Fred makes me get up and get dressed so that I can go look at this great furniture they have at Haverty's. I'm not overly thrilled I have just taken my pain pills and he was like "perfect lets go."

We get to Haverty's and Fred and Beth are showing Erin and I the several pieces of furniture they looked at. I had mentioned wanting a new dining room table. A friend of ours has the high top 8 seat square dinning room table. I really liked it and had mentioned maybe looking at a set for us. Fred and Elizabeth showed us several sets but I really liked the "Aris" set so we bought it with the server and the lazy susan. Then they dragged me over to this huge sectional sofa. It is sage green and it has 4 recliners called "Concepts". It is so comfortable so we bought that too. I picked out 2 end tables and will go back next week for an area rug, we decided we do not need a coffee table. We are going to paint the living room this weekend and have the furniture delivered on Monday. I am so happy.

When I am feeling better I am going to shop for material for new curtains, throw pillows and dining room chair seats. I am doing the livingroom in medium to dark greens with tan and some black. I am having several pictures framed for the living room to go with the ones already hanging. Our home is finally starting to look the way I imagined it would and the livingroom and dining room will become the new gathering area. The dogs are going to be very upset because we are going to lock them out of the main living area. There will be no dog hairs on my new furniture. They will have plenty of space in the Game/Billiard/ex den for their beds and toys. I can't wait.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Nicki Died last night she died of old age. Sofar we have lost Nicki, Snowball and Pinky to time. Nicki was the hardest to loose so far she was so sweet and smart. She was also a wonderful traveling companion. She traveled with us to so many places in her short life we will miss her.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Please excuse my typos they seem to be even worse when I'm taking pain medication or maybe not...........

I can't believe how tired I am, My doctor warned me to do nothing but lay around she did not say that is all I would be able to do. I have spent very little time on my computer or even less watching T.V. for that matter. The last two days I have spent taking drugs and sleeping. I get up in the morning actually feeling okay but within 2 hours or less I am ready for my morning nap which lasts about 3 hours or more. I get up shuffle around maybe eat then back to bed for another nap. In the evenings it is not too bad I can sit up a little longer eat dinner watch T.V. then back in bed. I hope tommorrow will be different.

Jen give Blaine a big hug from all of us and wish him a belated Birthday.... I am glad he had a great day I wish we could have been there!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, June 23, 2006

My doctor released me on Thursday I was home by 3:30pm. I think I have passed the last 4 days sleeping and watching either the weather channel or animal planet. These were channels that if I did doze off in the middle of something I usually woke up and really had not missed anything.

Not to change the subject but OMG can you beleive the weather?

I am glad to be home and in my own surroundings but I liked the peace and quiet of the hospital. All my nurses and the other hospital staff were great. I need to make sure I write a thank you letter. I am feeling a little better this afternoon. I still get tired very easily and I am still taking my pain meds pretty regular. Most of the pain is from abdominal gas but it is starting to ease off. I am trying not to move around to much it just makes everything hurt more.

I have been at my computer for less than an hour deleting emails and catching up and I feel another nap coming on real soon.

Monday, June 19, 2006

It' just after 5 am and I am wide awake. I tossed and turned all night and finally gave up around 4:30 am I guess I am stressing a little. My bag is packed and my clothes are laid out so I am basically ready to go. I know this operation is going to change my life and I am so looking forward to it. I get to spend the rest of my life free of a menstral cycle. I don't mean to be gross but for me it was more like hemoraging every month for 5-7 days or just all the time. The thermal ablation I had last year slowed down the flood but I am still not regular. I am not going to take hormones so this was the last resort so to say other than just putting up with it and/or taking iron pills the rest of my life. I still may have to take hormones if my doctor has to take out my ovaries but I am knocking on wood........

I finally have a handle on my anemia although I have to be careful. If I have a non-stop menstral cycle even though it is not heavy it still drains me, no pun intended. I know when I start to get anemic. It is amazing how you live with minor aches and pains most of your life and think nothing of it. When I realized that many of my symtoms where caused by anemia. I feel stupid I could have put a stop to the madness years ago if I had just paid a little more attention. I mean I knew I was anemic but I just never really understood what a toll it took on my body. So many minor health issues I have had over the last ten years including my lethargy and weigh gain all because of heavy and irregular periods.

Well today is the last day I have to put up with this. I have to be at outpatient at 6:30 and surgery at 8:00. I should be done around 11 or 11:30. I get to go home on Thursday barring any complications. The only thing I regret not doing is getting my living will notarized. I filled it out and I am going to sign it before I leave I know it is not legally binding but it is my wish and I expect my family to abide by my wishes if anything happens God forbid, just know that I love you all no matter what.

Anyway, I will not be able to Blog for atleast 4 days there is no wireless at Lawnwood so I am cut off. I hope I'll be able to use the next 2-3 days to read and write but that will depend upon how much pain meds I get. I am getting the little squeezie machine to self medicate so I might be unconscious a lot or just feeling really good and may not feel like doing anything at all. I guess I will see so everybody think of me and give a little prayer if you like I'll try to post a little on Thursday it I feel up to it................

Sunday, June 11, 2006

We had several squalls blow through today one nasty storm band brouhgt in some really gusty winds that knocked over a ladder and dumped several tools into the pool. It also blew one of the floats out of the pool and up against the fence. We dodged rain all day trying to get the roof ready for the aluminum guys. We need to get them here this week and finiish up if possible. Brian is our roofer he is an old friend of Freds from high school. He lucked out and ran into him the other day and Brian was nice enough to hepl us out. He only has a little bit left to do and he is done. Even nicer is the fact that he has a friend that is a handy man.

Our new handyman Craig is going to install our generator this weekend which means no more extension cords. He is also going to help us build our new walkin closet. We are moving the pool table into the den and the livingroom will be our greatroom. We are going to build a wall on the east end of the Florida room and that will be our computer room for a little while. When we can afford it We are then going to knock down the wall in our old closet and remodel the bathroom making it almost twice as large. It will feature a large whirlpool bath, a large walk in shower and a double vanity. I can't wait to get all done.

I am tired I too worked hard today. Yesterday the girls and I started pulling down the wallpaper in the Florida room they left me at about noon yesterday but I kept at it until later that afternoon. This morning I went back to work by myself and managed to finish around 3pm I think. I was still motivated so I started pulling the wallpaper down in my bathroom. It's now almost 10pm and I am tired and I still have a mess to clean out of my bath tub and the off the floor. I did not get it finished but I only have about a wall and a half to go. It looks so much nicer in there. I hated the nicotine stained yukky wallpaper. The girls want the wallpaper in there bathroom out too and I also plan on getting the nasty green wallpaper out of Warren's bathroom. I hate wallpaper.

I mentioned in my last blog that I am having surgery next week. I have opted to go ahead and have a hysterectomy. The surgery I had last year did help quite a bit but it did not fix the problem. I am no longer anemic but I am still not regular. My Doctor thinks I have DUB or Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding and because the ablation did not work my only other choise is a hysterectomy. I go in Monday for the procedure and I am suppose to be out of work maybe 6 weeks. My doctor told me if I behaved she might let me go back to work in 6 weeks if not she will make me take 8 weeks. I am kind of looking forward to the down time but I don't know how long I will be able to stay at home before I'll need to go back to work just to get away from home. I hope that makes sense........

Well I have to be up early I have jury duty in the morning and they will make me sit until after lunch atleast that's what they did last time. This is my 4th or 5th summons but this is the only time I have had to show up. I have either been on vacation or the last time I had a court date for 911 records the same day I was expected to show up for jury duty unfortunately I did not get that lucky this time.

It's late and I was practically in bed when the dogs started barking. Now I have had the T.V. on VH1 Rock Honors and it was pretty loud and all three of my chow hounds sleep right through it. I get up turn off everything prepare to change when all three start barking. I'm pretty sure Cujo started it. I walk back into the living room I look outside both front and back I see nothing but by now all three are standing at the back door wanting to go out. I can simpithize they were couped up in the house all day long while the roofer was here but now there is the issue of debris laying all over the back yard and I have to be careful and watch the dogs so they dont step on anything like nails. The kids are spending the night with friends so I don't have to worry about them stepping on anything.......

So here I am it's 1:00 am I'm outside with the dogs barefoot trying to make sure they don't bark and disturb our neighbors or step on anything. I look up and there is a very pretty full moon with a rather large halo around it. Nice.....I grab my camera hoping for a shot which was no good on my little point and shoot. Where's the man with the expensive photography hobby? Asleep.

I finally get the dogs back inside. Cujo is being stubborn it takes me 10 minutes of conjoling to get him back inside. I'm wide awake now so I pull up google and see what superstition is attached to a halo around the moon. Great, it means rain so I pull up weatherunderground expecting a storm front and guess what? At 11pm our first TD has formed in the Gulf of Mexico west of Cuba... YEAH!!! My roof is still not fixed but it is getting there, my pool enclosure is lying in pieces in my back yard, I am on a list that is backed up 3 months for generator installation and I am having surgery next week. (See next post for info on that)

I still have not gone out and bought hurricane supplies because I thought it was way too early for this. We thought maybe August we would start seeing our first storms that we would have to worry about but this is ridiculous it's only June 10th and even though this storm looks like its headed for north/central Florida we will still get some weather and winds depending on how large it gets. The gulf is pretty hot and will get hotter as summer gets going. I guess I will be shopping in the morning and getting organized. I'm pretty busy the rest of the week. I have jury duty Monday morning and then I have to work Monday night so I guess I'll be stocking up now. I am so thankfully we bought a CBS house that has hurricane shutters built in.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

I hope you are not too disappointed with my post today. June 6th of 2006 is shaping up to be just another day. Cujo is really the only beast in our house right now. He is turning out to be a good watch dog. Butch is taking his retirement well letting Cujo do all the barking while Zak helps. Infact I think Zak barks for all of them. He is such a yapper sometimes.

We have had a busy day so far. I was up at 7am putting the final touches on my notes for my meeting this morning. It went well I think. Karen my co-supervisor today started off the meeting and went over all the problems that I obviously missed because they were no where in my notes. I must have been asleep or something. We complimented each other nicely though because I picked right up where she left off. It was a good meeting we settled the Hurricane Schedule issue we just have to wait for Jack's approval and my Hurricane Menu was turned down or placed on hold for the moment and that's okay too. I have decided not to apply for the OM position that will open in October but I will apply for the supervisor’s position if one should open. I would like to be a supervisor as an acting Supv I know I can do the job but skipping that part and trying to fill an Operation's Manager spot just doesn’t feel right anymore and I feel better now that I have finally decided.

I came home and Fred was still asleep must be nice. I got him motivated and we were off. First stop was the restaurant supply for a Wok. We are having stir-fry tonight. Yummy!!!! Then went and picked up Dawn's Kids; V, Lizzy and Zackary they are currently in the pool swimming pool. I think they are playing Marco polo from the sound pf it. Erin and Beth are armed with water balloons and I think there are a couple of water guns out there too. Cujo and Zak the dog were outside having a good time chasing the kids from one side of the pool to the other. Cujo likes to nibble and has been chewing on the kids toes and fingers when they run and trying to tell kids to stop running is just a waste of breathe. Cujo thinks it’s a game and has been doing since he was small we are having a hard time breaking him of the habit. I plan on staying dry so I will sneak a peak at them every so often. Fred took off again to buy supplies for our roof we will be busy this weekend making repairs but that will be another blog………

Well it's lunch time and I need to go heat up the grill...... Hot Dogs for lunch today mmmmmmmmm.........

Sunday, June 04, 2006

It is amazing how quickly the season sneaks up on you. We have not repaired the damage from last years storm and here it is Hurricane Season again. We thought we were doing okay. We finally were able to get the patio company out here this week to put up the new pool enclosure only to have them leave Friday with the frame partially erected and scattered all over my back yard. The prep guys came out and started getting the roof and fascia ready for the enclosure. They started pulling off the what was left of the old enclosre and ran into rotted wood. They found old termite damage in the eaves under the fascia and a soft spot in the roof where the old patio covered at the corner. The wood is rotted there and will have to be replaced and reroofed. We are lucky Fred has a friend named Brian who has agreed to help Fred fix the roof. Fred is going to order the materials Monday and next weekend they are going to fix the roof.If they can get it all done then next week the patio company can get the pool enclosure up. Yeahhhhhhh!!!!!

We are also gearing up at work for the season. Last year we were suppose to work out a Hurricane schedule but it never done that I know of. With the 2004 storm Francis we worked the double shift but the storm was so long and there were so many people in the center my boss Jack decided that we did not need that many people. When Jeanne came through at the end of September 2004 only one shift work during the storm and they were swamped with calls. When Wilma hit in 2005 the hurricane shift had still not been implemented so we went ahead and just worked the double shift. The storm was only Cat. 2 and it was a fast storm so we were able to get our shifts in and out with little problems. It worked well. This week Jack sent out a memo/survey as to what we prefered to work...... during or after the hurricane. Personlly I prefer to work after the storm but my children are getting older and more independent and have ridden out 3 major storms with very little trauma. With Wilma the kids played card games all day and goofed off. The only time any of them became concerned was when I went out into the back yard after the poll enclosure fell down. They yelled at me. Fred says that sometimes I'm to hardheaded to be scared. He doesn't mean it in a mean way he just wishes I were a little more cautious at times and standing outside during a Cat. 2 is not a smart thing to do. On Tuesday we have a shift workshop and I plan on bringing up the Hurricane schedule and getting everyones input on working the double shift and keep shift integrity and just working with the individuals who may need to stay home with there families. I don't think there will be a problem getting almost everyone to agree to this. I think once we get it settled everyone will feel more at ease.

I also brought up the subject of a Hurricane Menu to my shift. Several of the supervisors have tossed around the idea of either getting there own caterer or just buying groceries and cooking. Amy brought up the subject Friday night and then I discussed it with my shift. They all agreed it was a good idea so yesterday I typed up a rough draft for a 2 day menu. This would be for a less severe storm Cat 2 or 3.If we have a Cat 4 or 5 approach our coastline we can expand it into a 3 or 4 day menu. I passed it out to my shift last night and they all liked it. I gave a copy to the day shift supervisor this morning and she said she would get with her shift. Two of my shift mates on dayshift are all for it and were already volunteering there grills and coolers. I think this will go over real well and is getting everyone excited and involved. I am hoping I can get the same reaction for the hurricane shift.

I know once we get these two main issues out of the way everyone at the center will feel more at ease...............

Thursday, June 01, 2006

I attended a supervisor’s workshop today and it was pretty interesting. We listened to a motivational speaker about being more than just a manager. The speaker focused on being a good leader. I do have a few of the qualities he discussed but there are several areas I definitely need to work on. Note to self … be more patient with the public and co-workers…..never PMS ever again…….stop procrastinating……. Work on these things.

Anyway, the speaker was interesting and I did learn new ideas but I was a little disappointed. At the end of the presentation we were shown an internet blurb about MySpace.com. The speaker simply stated how dangerous this site was to our children and told us as parents to keep our children away from this site. Well, I don’t really have a problem with MySpace.com. I made a site several months ago when I needed an account to investigate a 911 complaint. I played around with it some made a link to this site. I added a few pictures and filled out the profile but that was it. I’d log on every once in awhile and see what was up. I personally don’t see what the big deal is but then again I am 42 and married……..

Elizabeth discovered that I had a MySpace account and begged me to let her go on and just look around. Apparently all her friends are on and she wanted to be able to look them up and chat. It is amazing how quickly she has taken over my account so I got her back by posting pictures of her on the site and by reading all her friends accounts. She got mad when she caught me reading her boyfriends site. Hehehehhe…..I read all the comments left on the site by her friends. I keep up with what is going on my account and I even uploaded a few pics one of her father carrying a rather large gun with and explanation of his profession along with my own. I do not always approve of what these kids pass back and forth to each other but these are teenagers and they are taking their first steps into adulthood. Expressing themselves is not a bad thing and this site gives them a perfect venue to do so. I love to blog I am literally addicted to it. I love to write I love to express myself when most times I am unable to do it verbally. I like meeting new people on line. I like using the internet in a positive manner it not only keeps me informed on what is going on in the world but also keeps me close to my family. I can keep up with all my aunt, uncles and cousins in a matter of minutes instead of months or years. These kids want the same thing. They just want to stay informed and keep up with what is going on in their world.

We live in the age of technology and we need to keep up. MySpace is just another tool in communicating. Used properly it is wonderful used improperly it can cause harm both mentally and even physically. Unfortunately, MySpace has become a pedophiles online catalog. I am not worried about my daughter she is smart and we talk to her about these things and she knows what can happen. In fact I had my date of birth on the account and she begged me to change it to her DOB. By making the DOB from 17-14 years of age their sites can only be monitored by friends they have invited to view their sites. I did not know that and was very happy she pointed it out. As I said before I don’t have a problem with my child using MySpace to keep up with her friends as long as she is under limited supervision and she dose not have a problem with that. I am not a perfect parent but I am happy with the way my children are growing up. They are intelligent and independent. I will not smother their independence by not letting them experience life. They need to make mistakes, they need to make their own decisions, and they need to be allowed to express themselves.

MySpace has given our children and young adults a network connected to 80 million people world wide. MySpace is a phenomenon that needs to be experienced not smothered. But all parents need to always be watchful of your children and what they are doing on the internet not just MySpace. Talk to your children let them know what they might run into on the WWW. Information and communication is a parent’s best weapon and if you are suspicious and your child is trying to hide what they are doing on their computer, I recommend a good keystroke program or products like cyber patrol or net nanny. If by chance your child has already been approached by one of these cyber pedophiles report them to your local law enforcement agency. Many agencies have officers that do nothing but work on internet fraud and other illegal activities including pedophile activity.

Enjoy the internet because that is what it is there for but don’t take it for granted because just like most things in life it can turn on you when you least expect it. Be smart be safe and keep on blogging……………………

Last month Warren wrecked his car. It was no big deal minor injuries but the front end on Warren's Dodge took a beating. We were pretty sure that the insurance company would have it fixed and we would all go back to our regular routines. Fred and I have been sharing our vehicle with him since the accident. Too our surprise they total his car and sent us a check. After several days of searching and haggling with the local car dealers Warren with his father there for moral support purchased his first brand new vehicle a 2006 2dr Honda Civic. He did not need a co-signer nor is our name on any of the documentation. We even had the insurance drawn up in his name only.

About Me

I am happy because I choose to be!! I am married to my best friend. We have a strong marriage that has lasted much longer than I could have ever imagined. I have 3 great children who make me proud every day! I am very happy with my life and would not change it for anything in the world.